One of the biggest things about working with tiredness and fatigue is to investigate whether we have aversion towards it. Sometimes it is intensified by or gets prolonged by our reaction to it, and then there's a lot of worry and fear associated with it, which then exhausts us even more. So it's quite important to use the mental noting and just note "tiredness." Mindfulness is very important in dealing with tiredness, so that it doesn't go straight into the aversion towards the tiredness. We learn how to be with the unpleasant feelings of heaviness in the body, with the sometimes difficult feelings in the eyes, especially behind the eyes, watching tiredness and the heaviness in the eyes, the growing weakness in the body. We become more interested in these sensations rather than reacting to the sensations. This is quite important before we can go to any other techniques, because if we quickly go to a reflection technique, without actually trying to use this body mindfulness, it may just be because of aversion, we're using the reflection technique to get rid of the sleepiness. Acceptance is quite important, and not making a big story about it. Often if we start to react to the tiredness, then we feel somehow that this is permanent. Thoughts can then arise, "Oh, this tiredness, this yucky feeling I'm feeling is permanent." And that's where the worry starts to come. But every mind state is impermanent, every bodily sensation is impermanent, so trying to understand the impermanence of this and not making it "mine," this state of mind as "mine," is very important. The big problem comes when we make things "mine." "I am this, this is me, this is permanent." Understanding the impermanent nature of things, we understand that all states of mind are impermanent, all body sensations are impermanent. We can't get to that unless we try to use our mindfulness and mental noting of the state of mind "tiredness."
After this, and working with it using the body techniques that I explain in the normal retreat, we could then, for some of the old students, use the D/D technique, that is the universalizing technique. I'll give you a brief one. We use this Dukkha and have compassion for ourselves, but then think of other people in the world who may be tired, who have to keep going. New mothers, often they are very tired, but they have to keep going. Nurses on night shift, they have a lot of responsibility, too. That's a couple of examples, I'm sure you will be able to think of others. And we can often see that, like farmers and all, they get tired, but they have to keep going because the harvest has to come in.
Many people in the world are getting tired, but they're not actually getting tired from meditating and trying to understand the nature of themselves. What a precious, valuable opportunity we have to be tired in this way. It's wonderful! We get so tired meditating! We get so tired helping people! How wonderful. What good Kamma we are making for ourselves. By reflecting like this, sometimes the tiredness just goes like that! How great it is to be tired! It's a whole different way of looking at it, isn't it? Instead of self-pity, we can feel energized. Think of the Buddha. Do you think he got a bit tired in those six years? Trying to find the answers to human existence and the way out of Samsara, I think he got a bit tired. But that great compassion that he had kept him going. So get out of what I call the "small mind," the mind that is focused on "me, mine," this small self with the self-pity, and get more into the bigger mind, the compassion mind. Then we may find that the tiredness can be there and we're not reacting to it. We're actually feeling happy that we're tired And doing something useful for ourselves and for the world.
I talked about the Paramis in the Old Students' Talk. Energy is one. I don't believe that we could do anything useful without developing this Energy Parami. It's so important to us in our practice. Of course it's very helpful to have Wisdom guiding our energy, and know when the tiredness is coming from physical illness and we need to rest, or when the tiredness is just coming from a little bit of exertion in the practice, and gradually testing our limits, pushing our limits, and breaking out of them. Sometimes it's difficult to know where our limits are and when to push and when not to push.